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Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Review 102 - Bielle 2007 Brut de Fût 7 year old

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Another smashing, affordable rhum.

Information

After a tiny hiatus spanning Christmas and New Years and then some, let’s take a trip back to Marie Galante. You know, that
small island which is practically part of Guadeloupe.

Earlier I’ve looked at a Rhum Rhum, which was spectacular
and an indie Bielle, which was alright, but not great.

But apart from selling stock to indies, Bielle also bottles
some of their own stuff.

For more information about Bielle, please refer to their website listed at the
bottom of this review.

They have a full line of rums spanning from white unaged
rums to liquers to vieux rhums and hardcore bottles of brut de fût.

So after trying a couple of borderline Bielles, I think it’s
time to try a true Bielle, and see what they are capable of.

For the experiment I’ve chosen the Bielle 2007 Brut de Fût.

Why? Because I had a chance to try it recently, and thought
it was quite good. Unfortunately the tiny taste I got, was not large enough to
properly assess the thing, so I went out and sourced a proper sample.

It was distilled in 2007 on a creole column and then aged
for 7 years before it was bottled at 57,3% cask strength in 2014. No
filtration, no colour, no nothing. Just rhum.

And then there is the rest of the whole way rhum making
works on Marie Galante, which I touched in the Tres Hombres Bielle review. I’m
not going to repeat anything except for the most awesome word I learned in
2016: Phytoremeditation.

Awesome.

Presentation

As with many other rums, you get a card board tube with your
Bielle 2007.

It comes in a yellowish, golden colour and has a bit of text
written on it, but mostly just the name, provenance and age. On the back there
is a short passage about the rum with a couple of notes and a little praise.
But nothing too serious.

The same goes for the labels. Same info as on the tube – front
and back.

The rum it self has a nice amber colour and it barely clings
to the inside of the glass when given a slight swirl.

Nose

Initially it comes off a little sharp on the nose, but with
typical agricole characteristics.

Underneath lies a layer of warm oaks, with cinnamon and a
little pepper.

On the more subtle side there is a nice presence of mint as
well as some flowery notes.

Not the most broad nosing experience, but still very, very
nice

Taste

First a super round entry with lots of treacle and cane
juice.

Then it evolves into a melange of dark chocolate, liquorice
and almost ripe oranges.

When you think it has nothing more to offer, you suddenly
notice a flowery level of light rose and

lavender.

Super fresh, fruity and feisty, and just extremely well
balanced and tasty.

Finish

First thing that happens is lots of heat, which then starts
to die off.

As it dies off it reveals some nice flavours of orange peel
and bananas.

A little later on in the progress a little menthol is added.

Rating and final
thoughts

All in all a beautiful rhum.

It starts off a bit weak on the nose, but more than makes up
for it with a roller coaster ride of heat and flavours.

Extremely tasty and a lot of good fun along the way.

The proof feels just right. It packs a punch, but it still
very manageable.

At a price of just €90 – and I do mean just – you get a
very, very good bottle of rum. As I have experienced with quite a few agricoles,
value for money is very good.

And compared with their molasses counterparts, I must say
that agricoles tend to perform better for their price.

So by all means, if you like higher proof rums and don’t
mind agricoles – or want to experiment – give it a shot. You can do a lot worse
for €90.

Coming to a conclusion I have to admit, that I’m starting to
seriously favour the rhums. They have a delicate nature, a lightness and a
complexity which you have to look very hard for to get in the rum-world. And
for the prices they go for, they do not have much competition from regular
rums.

Sure, you can always go for a crazy funky Jamaican or a
supermassive Demerara, which brings something completely different to the
table, but when dabbling around and taking chances, my money will be on
agricoles a lot more in the future.

The Bielle 2007 was a great encounter and apart from a
slightly weak nose, I have no reason to shout at it. It was just awesome.

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